Friday, June 19, 2015

Bitter pill's joy

This has been a very hard lesson for me this week.  I say that because I personally have struggled very much with it.  Lately at Real Life we've been studying the book of Proverbs and wisdom and on reading Chapter 14 I came across a verse so unlike anything I've ever read.  We've all been hurt in life by one thing or another or people.  Mostly by people if we're honest.  I once took a Ministry of the Pastor class and Dr. Bradshaw said "99% of all your problems are going to be people problems."  How we choose to react to that determines a lot about us.  I will tell you this in all honesty Thursday morning by the time I got off work i was so mentally and emotionally drained by the customer service job I do that I felt as if I literally had someone just pushing on my head and holding it down.  I drove home from work no noise in the car and cried the entire way home and then got home and just attacked the punching bag and cried more.  Most of the day I was praying too.  As I said this has been very hard for me.  I don't want to dislike people and I find myself doing so.  Bitterness is a prison of our own making.  You've probably heard this before "We all are prisoners here of our own device."  The writers of Hotel California were right about this. I've been bitter about things and I know you have too we're not immune to it like we would like to be.  Don't get me wrong I am not trying to excuse my behavior in any way I'm honestly admitting I have a problem and I need help.  Proverbs 14:10 "Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one can fully share its joy."  Read that slowly because I had to read it about 4-5 times before I caught what it said.  Joy and bitterness are not things I would ever put in the same sentence.  Then you catch what it said.  See your personal bitterness gives you private joy but you miss that you're the only one enjoying it.  Studies have been done by scientists and doctors that prove bitterness can affect your health.  So at this point you might be saying "Zac so what?"  A few years ago I had been hurt by the dating game and by people I wanted to be friends with.  I was at Camp Zephyr.  This was a question i posed to a young lady on the drama team named Mary Jo Kelso.  My question was this.  "I've been hurt many times in the past and it seems that when I get hurt I put up more and more of a wall to protect myself.  Is there some more constructive way I can respond?"  When God shows you bitterness in your heart its for a reason he wants to remove it and improve your relationship with him.  I believe my answer to my question to Mary Jo can be found in Ephesians 4:30-32 "And do not  bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live.  Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words and slander as well as all types of evil behavior.  Instead be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you."  











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Friday, June 12, 2015

Faith is a little weird

Faith is a little Weird

Faith is a strange little word take this for example:  “Katara: [opening narration] Water... Earth... Fire... Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang. And although his airbending skills are great, he still has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone. But I believe Aang can save the world.”  It takes a little faith to believe what Katara just said about the world and Aang. 
          See Faith doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense.  Here’s another example:
“It takes a lot of faith to say we're accidents of nature,
But I believe we are the work of a loving Creator.
Now you can wait a million years and hope that nature does it's part,
But it only takes a moment, for God to change a heart.” –Geoff Moore
See what we believe affects the things we say and do. 

          You see I dealt with a scoffer this week.  To someone who discredits God’s word and his existence what we as Christians believe makes no sense and I had to come to that harsh reality.  Faith is a gift that God gives us.  Sometimes we have to step back and realize that.  So I looked up the definition of faith according to Miriam Webster online dictionary.  Here’s where some of the confusion comes in.  Faith: “strong belief or trust in someone or something.  Belief in the existence of God.”  It goes further to list this.  “Firm belief in something for which there is no proof. Complete trust.”  See that’s when it hit me.  “Complete trust” that’s the phrase my scoffer had trouble with.  To have complete trust means you don’t have all the answers and you just admitted it.  It’s not an easy thing to do but it’s the place where God does his best work.  Don’t believe me well check out 1 Peter 5:6-7.  “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will life you up in honor.  Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”  When we let God have control and trust him he gives us faith.  Watch how this works in the next few verses.  Hebrews 11: 1-3 “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.  Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.  By faith we understand the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.”  By letting God be in control and trusting him we are given faith and even though we don’t have all the answers we may think we need he gives us the ability to trust him and the hope we need. 










  
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Friday, June 5, 2015

Once and for all

One of my favorite themes in Christian Music and in the book of Hebrews is the theme of once and for all.  For years the people of Israel sacrificed animals for the atonement from sin.  That was to be a picture of Christ's death on the cross.  Christ's death completed that requirement.  There's only one way to heaven.  John 14:6 "Jesus told him `I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one can come to the Father except through me.'"  Salvation was accomplished through Jesus Christ.  Not with his death and the addition of anything else.  Ephesians 2:4-7 explains it so well.  "But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.  (It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!)"  I want to bring you to 2 portions of Hebrews 9 to remind you that this sacrifice was once and for all and perhaps God will use this to remind you the price for your sins and mine has already been paid.  Hebrews 9:11-15 "So Christ has now become the high priest over all the good things that have come.  He has entered that greater, more perfect tabernacle in Heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world.  With his own blood--not the blood of goats and calves--He entered the most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.  Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow could cleanse people's bodies from ceremonial impurity.  Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God.  For by the power of the eternal spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.  That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them.  For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under the first covenant."  And a reminder of this and a bit more hope.  Hebrews 9:27-28  "And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgement so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people.  He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are waiting for him."  

3 different songs same title and roughly the same topic.  The Chris Tomlin one is new to me.  


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